Faith schools dominate top primary results

Faith schools make up 197 of the 209 primaries achieving "perfect" results in the latest league tables, with all pupils reaching the expected standard for 11-year-olds in English, maths and science.

The success of Church of England, Roman Catholic and Jewish schools in the government's key stage 2 results, released today, is likely to fuel debate over Labour's support for faith-based education.

Earlier this year, ministers proposed rules that would require all new faith schools to admit at least 25% of pupils from other religions. However, the education secretary, Alan Johnson, quickly abandoned the plans after intense lobbying from the Roman Catholic Church.

Faith schools make up just one-third of all schools in England. In 2005 they accounted for 44% of the top primaries, but this year the proportion has risen to more than 60%.

The best school in the tables was North Cheshire Jewish primary school in the leafy suburbs of Heald Green, which offers "a traditional Jewish education".

The most improved school was St Anne's Roman Catholic primary school in Manchester, which has seen its results triple in three years.

The tables also revealed that the area with the worst truancy rates were in London.

Of the 13 local education authorities which scored more than 1% for the number of half-days missed due to unauthorised absence, 10 were in the capital.

A school in Lancashire had the very worst rate of 8.3% - more than 16 times the national average for England of 0.5%.